I am totally new to Nissans. I normally wrench on and race Opels. These cars are generations apart. Dual DCOEs are not dual turbos.

I'm helping a friend get his car going. It had been parked for years and it starts and drives, but with issues.

Issue 1 is sometimes the car starts right up, other times not at all.

Issue 2, the transmission (automatic) does not engage until he revs the engine to pretty danged high. Once it is rolling it seems to drive normally. I figure the torque converter is okay but something else is not right, a solenoid maybe?

I'll have the car here tomorrow and at that time I'll have a better change to look it over.

Any tips for someone just now getting their hand dirty on this car?

Thanks, Mike

P.S. I could not download the FSM.

Issue 1- is the starter cranking at all when it doesn't start?

Turns out it starts up pretty easy, and the engine sounds healthy. The speedometer is showing 0 kph and the oil pressure gauge reads 0, but I figure it's the sender or gauge, not the motor.

The transmission slips, a lot. I'm not sure if it was tires or transmission that generated all the smoke when I drove it onto the trailer. I'll check fluids and such tomorrow.

There is a minor knock noise near the power steering pump, and the wipers won't turn off. This should be fun.

Mike

I spent a bit more time on the car, cleaning and inspecting. The fan shroud was beat up so I removed it, using tin snips.

The engine starts and runs fine. So that is good. I still can't track down the noise, and I can't find the vacuum pump because I don't know what it looks like. I really need an FSM. But I was able rule out the power steering pump. I hope it's not a frayed timing belt.

The transmission will need a lot of work. Fluid level seems fine, cold. I can't drive the car in this condition long enough to warm it up. Any idea on the cost of a rebuild in California?

Service manuals are available here: http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/300zx/
Here's the one for the AE: https://www.nicoclub.com/service-manual ... E300zx.pdf
Let me know if that isn't working for some reason.

The nicoclub site did not have the service manual for the '84. It had the owner's manual and two service manual supplements.

Ah, you're right. I was a bit hasty.

This site has the full factory service manual: http://www.xenonzcar.com/z31/fsm.html

I actually went ahead and checked it this time and it is the service manual.

The PDF file named TOC is the Table of Contents which will help decipher what the other PDFs are.

Thanks. I found the FSM on XENONCAR. Still can't find the vacuum pump.

The FSM shows an oil pressure switch near the oil filter. Is that really a switch or an analog sending unit? The oil pressure gauge reads 0, so I'm looking for the wires to make sure it is connected to a sender.

I've been calling around asking about transmission rebuilds. It's not looking promising. Rebuild kit may be hard to find.

Mike

A quick question from someone who is fairly clueless about these cars but is working on one anyway.

I'm looking underneath for any clues why the transmission is slipping in all gears. On the passenger side I see a connector, four wires, and on the transmission side the wire is exposed and probably shorting. It's the only wiring I can find on this side of the transmission. On the transmission side of the connector the wiring is in a shiny braided covering and seems to go directly into the transmission. The other end goes to a wiring harness.

I can't find this connector in the wiring diagrams. The colors are yellow, blue, green, and black. The closed match is the connector going to the shift switch, but the colors on the transmission side are not given and the colors going to the harness are different.

Any ideas?

Mike

Edit: it's the inhibitor switch. Still, wire color and count do not match the wiring diagram.